Junior, who weighs all of five pounds, spent almost 12 hours exposed to the elements after he was almost ripped in two by a German shepherd outside the Pauline Crescent home of his owners.
Now Junior’s owner Brandy Norris, 16, and her parents, Larry Norris and Brenda Hubley, are appealing to the London community for help in paying close to $2,000 in vet bills.
The cost could skyrocket by as much as $5,000-$10,000 if Junior needs skin grafts.
They say the owner of the dog refuses to help, directing them instead to take her to court. What’s more off-putting, they claim, is her apparent lack of compassion for the tiny dog.
The owner of the German shepherd called the incident an “accident”, before declining to speak to London Community News on Friday (May 10).
"My dog jumped the fence, like, shit happens,” she said. “I didn’t let my dog go attack their dog on purpose, it was an accident. I was more than willing to help them out if they had come to me properly, but they went about it the wrong way.”
She said neither Brandy nor her parents ever asked her directly to help with the bills, something they flatly deny.
Brandy lives with her mom on Pauline Crescent. Larry lives about a two-minute drive away. He produced a text message the owner of the shepherd allegedly sent him the next morning, thinking she was reaching Brandy.
In it she asked whether they had found Junior. When Larry responded Junior spent five hours in surgery and asked her to share the cost, she responded he “will have to bring me to court with the vet bill.”
“They beat around the bush and talked to neighbours, said you know I was a shit person because my dog attacked their dog,” she said Friday. “If they had come up and said, ‘We have some vet bills now,’ absolutely I would help them out.”
Brenda said they could take her to court and probably win, but they couldn’t “get blood from a stone.
“I’d rather use the money for vet bills than to fight her in court,” Brenda said.
Their bank won’t set up a trust account because Junior isn’t a person, but the Aylmer Veterinary Clinic at 421 Talbot St. W in Aylmer, N5H 1K8 (519-773-3911) is taking donations directly. They’ll take cash, cheques, Visa or Mastercard, but not debit.
Larry has set up a Facebook page, titled Junior Survives, which is linked to a PayPal account.
Junior has undergone two surgeries and will need at least one more. He still has stitches stretching from under his right front paw around most of the back of his neck. His right front leg is still almost completely raw two weeks after the incident, the upper tip of his leg bone exposed.
According to Brenda, the German shepherd that attacked their dog was in their driveway when they got home from a shopping trip at about noon April 26. Brandy got out of the car to coax the dog away from their front door so her mom could get inside.
She said it wasn’t collared or tagged, but had something around its neck, possibly a bandana.
Brandy was going to take the dog door-to-door down her street to try and find its owner when Brenda let their three dogs out to their backyard.
Brandy grabbed at the shepherd’s bandana as it bolted for the trio of lapdogs but she just missed.
Brenda was able to get two of the dogs inside before the shepherd tore into their backyard, but Junior hesitated and ended up in its jaws just inside the gate that separates the backyard from the driveway at the side of their semi-detached house.
Brandy tackled the shepherd and pried its jaws open to free Junior, who ran away once the dog was forced to release him.
That launched a 12-hour search for the dog by a dozen people from all over the neighbourhood, something Brandy and Brenda are grateful for.
“There were mothers out for walks with their children calling out for him,” Brenda said. “It was amazing.”
A family friend found him at about midnight. He reached out to pick him up, not realizing in the dark how grave his injuries were.
“When I picked him up, my entire hand went inside his body,” he said. “I instantly turned completely white. One more bite and he would have been done.”
The moments before the attack, specifically “just missing” the dog’s bandana, plays over and over again in Brandy’s mind. She said she was so disturbed she missed a week of school following the attack.
Larry gave the dog to Brandy in order to keep it in the family. He choked up describing what the incident has done to his daughter.
“I’ve never seen my daughter so upset,” he said. “She screamed so loud … it killed me to see her like that.”
He put the bill on a credit card.
“I’m a full-time foster dad, and I just had surgery myself,” he said. “I don’t have that kind of money to throw away.”
Kent Lattanzio, director of operations at the London Animal Control Centre (LACC), confirmed the owner was issued a $150 fine for dog at large and a $400 fine for fail to muzzle dog, plus a victim surcharge.
He couldn’t discuss specifics, but said a “fail to muzzle” charge could only be laid if the offending dog has had a muzzle order imposed on it as a result of a previous incident.
He said the legislation that regulates animal shelters operating as pounds gives animal control officers the authority to withhold dogs they find roaming at large, but they have no authority to take a dog under the control of its owner.
For a dog to be seized, a case must be made in court under the Dog Owners Liability Act.
The LACC investigates about 300 dog bite complaints every year but not every incident turns out to warrant a charge. A “bite” must leave visible bruising, abrasion or puncture wounds.
Lattanzio said in “95 percent” of cases where there has been a vicious attack, the owner signs the dog over to be euthanized by their vet.
(London Community News - May 14, 2013)
